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Cape Town - In his autobiography, Resilient, former Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson recalls how opening batsman David Warner once posed as a South African police officer on their 2011 tour.
The incident occurred during the ODI series between the Proteas and Australia, with the final and deciding match of the series at Kingsmead.
According to Johnson, Warner asked their police escorts for their badges and confronted two people on a motorcycle while the team were waiting on their meals at a fast food restaurant.
He demanded the two on the motorcycle show their licence by flashing the borrowed badge, and at the end the two took the confrontation very lightly by laughing at the Australian trying to pose as a South African cop.
While revealing the incident, Johnson also made an assumption about South Africa in his autobiography, saying “you get shot for looking sideways” and added that “everyone has a gun”.
Here is an excerpt from Mitchell Johnson’s autobiography, Resilient, as reported by the Fox Sports Australia website:
“Everyone was in pretty high spirits and Davey Warner noticed a motorbike waiting behind us with two people on it.
“He asked this policeman if he could borrow his badge and jumped out of the car to front them.
“It was totally crazy and could have gone really wrong. Over there, you can get shot for looking sideways; everyone has a gun.
“Davey demanded to see their licences and flashed them his badge. They were confused for a while about this Australian passing himself off as a copper, but fortunately they thought it was funny and laughed instead of getting angry.
“Davey was a bit wilder in those days than he is now.”
Australia went on to win the ODI match in Durban by three wickets and claimed the series 2-1.
